NFL Power Rankings: Why You Sir, (Yeah, I’m Talking to You!) Should Get Over Them

What’s one of the biggest complaints about college football? (Well, other than Urban Meyer having the name “Urban.”) It’s the BCS ranking system that causes a “clusterfun” of controversy at the end of every season. The system is a complicated formula used instead of a traditional playoff or elimination tournament. The BCS calculates a team’s wins and losses, strength of schedule, and fat paychecks to the big time conferences, I mean…er, poll averages to determine the national title contenders. Come season’s end when the championship teams are announced, you can count on hearing fan complaints like “They lost in week 1 and we lost in week 10, so why did we fall five spots while they’re ranked second?!” Or there’s this old standby: “So what if our team only played intramural squads consisting of retirees! We’re undefeated and deserve a shot at the national title!”

College football fans, including this angry chick, generally discuss the BCS system with a blinding, unsettling sort of rage. And yet, some of those same fans who follow the NFL can’t wait to rush to their computers on Tuesday morning to see where their pro team stands in the weekly “power rankings.” You know, the rankings that don’t count.

NFL rankings are about as useful as my mother giving me an end of the year job review. Sure it’s nice that she thinks I’m awesome and wants me to tidy up my desk, but her opinion won’t really matter in determining whether I’ll get a bonus. The beauty of the NFL is that playoffs are determined by one stat alone: wins. You win your games, you go to the playoffs. It’s that simple. Cut and dry.

So why is it “Mr. Angry NFL Fan” that you feel a need to bombard message boards with your rantings about your team dropping 5 spots for losing to Green Bay or whether the Saints deserve to be number one over the fellow unbeaten Colts? It’s just a bunch of opinions. It doesn’t really matter. Feel free to disagree but do you have to disagree by carrying on like a scorned lover who just got disappointing DNA results on an episode of Maury? You don’t, sir. I assure you, you don’t.

Here’s just a sample of responses to this week’s ESPN NFL Power Rankings which put the 9-0 Saints at #1, the 9-0 Colts at #2, and the 8-1 Vikings at #3.

“Hmstrm” says:

Struggling against a team with a winning record and the #3 passing game in the NFL means more than struggling against a 1 win team. This power ranking is compost, fresh, hot, steaming compost…

“Coach Tomligate” takes a different approach. Why attack the ranking when you can attack the ranker?

Clayton, you suck, find a new career. Is it too much to ask to at least get some “experts” who have at least played youth football?

As for “Baldirishguy”, who needs words when you can use *punctuation* to prove your point!!!!!

These guys are clueless! Even the Saints fans think the Colts should be #1!?!? They just won a huge rivalry game against the Patriots! The Saints squeaked by St. Louis?? The same team that the Colts put to bed …. These guys have lost all creditability!!

Meanwhile, JBALL41091 is on spelling and grammar patrol in response to a previous poster:

you spelled “importantly” wrong… such an idiot

And finally, Slosstheboss keeps it simple when summing up his take on the “experts”:

“You deserve to die a slow and painful death and never ever give your comments on football again.”

Um…wow!

So I get that the rankings can be controversial and I’ll confess to not always agreeing with the experts’ picks. But I can say with 100% certainty that I’ve never so vehemently disagreed that I felt a need to let my rage boil over and flow from my fingertips to these so-called “internets” to wish death upon the rankers. After all, if you need someone upon which to irrationally unleash your pent up frustration, isn’t that what slow drivers and interns are for?

I’m as passionate about football and my team as the next guy or gal but I save my passion for the stuff that counts, like…you know…the actual games! These rankings are just opinions. They are subjective and inherently flawed. They’re a fun hobby for dudes who get paid to present their biases as fact.

About Nola ChickShaneika, a.k.a. Nola Chick, is a lifelong crazed Saints fan and creator of chicksinthehuddle.com. If she looks familiar, you may have seen her lose a Cadillac on "The Price is Right" with Bob Barker or win Super Bowl tickets on the Ellen Show. (She gets around...)
Twitter Handle: @chicksndahuddle